


To Rise With You

by lentranced



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24805759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lentranced/pseuds/lentranced
Summary: As the sun begins to sink against the horizon, Niles and his daughter go picking for flowers of a very particular kind.
Relationships: Emerina | Emmeryn/Zero | Niles
Comments: 12
Kudos: 8





	To Rise With You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the wonderful @tangerinabina on twitter! I hope you like it!

The sunset is blinding, but there's a sight that's even brighter.

In the swath of sunflowers, Nina jumps and twirls, running rings around her infectious laughter.

Her father can't help but smile. He hasn't been able to help but smile for years, and it's a miracle that his cheeks don't hurt.

"Papa!" Nina calls, and Niles lifts his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. "See if you can catch me, Papa!"

As purple and pink hues cut across the sky like shorn ribbons, Niles treads through the tall grass. He pauses every few steps, crouching like a cat in between the rustle of flowers.

"A...ha!" He exclaims, arms outstretched as he reaches in between the flora.

Only to find, much to his very convincing act of dismay, nothing but more flowers.

Not the flower he's looking for. She's laughing all around him, and frankly, she never stopped. He can see her mother in those eyes.

"Oh dear!" Niles shouts into the open sky. "Where _has_ my Nina gone?"

A giggle here. A rustle of leaves there. She's in the tall part of the bush, where the flowers are too tall to reveal her, but still too short to conceal him.

This was hardly an even playing field.

"It's not fair that you get to be so much shorter, you know," he says, knowing full well that she can hear him.

Knowing she's right behind him, giggling in between gulps of air.

She's been running too much. Two servings of dinner wouldn't even be enough, by the time they head back home.

"I guess I'll have to pick these flowers for your mother all by myself." Niles begins his slow trod towards the shorter end of the bush, where the sunflowers seemed to smile brightest, looking up at him instead of being eye level.

Just like Nina, though these can hardly even begin to compare.

He blinks and he can see her, for a fleeting moment, behind the curtain of his eyelids. She's always there, so close.

And he's always itching to pick her up, swinging her in those arms that have been aiming a bow for so long, laughing with her.

In harmony.

He remembers his wife's words, one morning at breakfast. The wood of the table felt soft under his worn and calloused fingers.

Then he'd looked at his wife, at Emmeryn sitting across from him, and his fingertips yearned to caress her face.

"Because that is what families do," she had said. "They work in harmony. We all play a part in each other's happiness."

Niles knew she was right, and Emmeryn was his world.

As he begins to pick flowers, one by one, illuminated by the setting sun, he hears the rustle of leaves behind him grow closer.

"Boo!"

"There you are!" Niles shouts back.

He spins on his heels and Nina's looking up at him, her arms outstretched, reaching towards him the way the sunflowers around them reached to the sky.

"Papa!" Nina says. "I want to help, too!"

"Of course, my sweet."

Nina picks out flower after flower, and with the help of her father, they amass a large bundle of sunflowers in minutes. They begin the slow walk back home, the sun warm against their backs.

"Mama's favourite," Nina says with a smile, looking up at the flowers in her father's hands. She twirls the one in her hand and grins. Niles tousles her hair.

"Mama's going to love that one the most," he says, gesturing to her flower. "You know why?"

Nina ponders for a moment before responding, bright-eyed. "Because it's got the yellowest petals!"

Niles laughs. "Because you picked it out. She's going to love it and treasure it."

Nina smiles. "Mama loves me the most."

Could he argue with that? He wasn't sure if he could. Nile laughs to himself as they continue down the dirt road, sleepy birdsong keeping them company.

When he sees his wife at the door, his heart beats in time with the chirps in the air. It's like the air is caught in his lungs.

When he's around his wife, it's like he forgets to breathe.

It's true what they say about some things taking your breath away.

When Emmeryn greets them, leaning upwards to kiss Niles's cheek, he feels surrounded by sunflowers, and they're all facing her.

"You told me you were going for a walk," she says.

"And we did," Niles says.

"But we also brought a surprise!" Nina holds her flower out for her mother.

Emmeryn takes the sunflower and brings it close to her face, breathing deeply.

"It's beautiful," she says, first to Nina, then to Niles. "You brought me so many... I love them."

Niles scratches at his ear, taking care not to let the flowers fall.

"I love you," he replies.

The way she smiles at him leaves him feeling like the shimmering heat haze on a hot day.

She's iridescent.

"Will the baby like them?" Nina asks, hands around her mother's abdomen. The fabric of Emmeryn's dress catches in her fingers, letting the slight bulge of Emm's stomach become pronounced.

"Of course, my dear," says Emmeryn. She cradles her daughter's face in her hands and plants a kiss on her forehead, then looks up at Niles. "The baby will love them, and do you know why? Because her older sister, and her father, brought them."

The front door behind her is ajar and inviting. Behind Niles, the setting sun casts its dying rays against his back.

In front, however, Niles feels as though he could stay just like this, basking in the light of his family, forever.


End file.
